Hello everyone thank you all for this opportunity. I am Corey (cpage101) and I never had an aquarium until December 4, 2014 when I decided 2 weeks earlier with my autistic daughter that we would do a saltwater aquarium together.
My first aquarium was a 55G with all HOB equipment. A year later I built this entire system pictured which was started with a petco $1 a gallon tank. This system is a a 40B with a 20L DIY sump. I also built the custom stand from an an antique dresser. I started this system up 1 year later than my fist 55g tank. I have only been into the aquaria hobby for just over two years, What I like about this hobby is the fact that through research you can run a salt water aquarium many ways successful. I have many other hobbies which I enjoy. Mountain Biking, archery, hiking and many other outdoor hobbies.
SETUP: This system is a 40B. I am using a glass holes 700 GPH back overflow box with a sicce 529 GPH return pump. I run (2) ecotec MP10’s one on each side, my sump is a 20 gallon long which I built a DIY sump this has a center refugium section.
I am running the seaside aquatics skimmer CS 3.5 which is rated for 80 gallons. I run (2) 150 watt heaters in my refugium section.. I am currently growing cheato in the refugium with an LED 3000K flood lamp which is on for 8 hrs a day.
For lighting in the tank I am utilizing the 16″ SB reef light full spectrum LED timer model. This is on a 14 hour cycle 16″ above the tank. The schedule is a follows UV for 30 min. morning, then Blues for 1.5 hrs then full spectrum 12 hrs, then blues for 1.5 hrs at night. UV’s for 30 min. Before off for the night Blues are running at 90% whites are running at 55%. My ATO utilized is a smart ATO unit. I currently are not running any reactors on this system and I hand dose as required at this time.
MAINTENANCE: I do minimal maintenance, I clean equipment every 2-3 months and I only do water changes every 2 to 3 weeks. I dose Bulk Reef supply supplements for ALK, CA, and MAG. My parameters are as follows.
ALK between 7.2-8
CA between 400-450
MAG between 1350-1400
PH 7.8-8.2
Nitrate less than 5
SG 1.025
I test these around every 3 days and hand dose as required.
INHABITANTS: There are minimal fish in this tank but lots of coral. I have the following
(1) Frostbite clownfish
(1) Snowflake clownfish
(1) Melanarus Wrasse
(1) Longnose hawkfish
I only have a couple of large turbo snails in the tank and a fighting conch. My most favorite part of this system is my coral. I have the following mixed reef corals in this system. Pink Birds-nest, Gatorade birds-nest, Waving hand, toxic yellow and purple hammer coral, frogspawn, yellow candy cane coral, trumpet coral, stunner chalice, bubblegum chalice, multiple acros, and a few palys and zoas. It is very important to keep all your levels stable in a mixed reef to be successful.
FEEDING: They all are great eaters they eat pellet, and flake but I feed frozen and ground up fresh clams once a week. I feed flakes usually once a day only. There are also lots of live copepods and amphipods to eat in this system. Once a month I will spot feed coral frenzy to my corals.
CONCLUSION: Thank you for the opportunity to have my tank showcased and the TOTM win.
Thanks,
Corey